A prior art aiming assistance system offered by the German company Swarovsky is represented in FIG. 1. It comprises a circular grayscale target pattern MI (the grayscales darkening from white to black from the center of the target to the edge), placed just above the target CI. The target pattern is brightly lit by a light placed just above it, and at the focal point of the scope LU mounted on the weapon AR there is a light intensity sensor (typically a monopixel detector). When the center of the target pattern MI is imaged on this detector, the light intensity is at its maximum, and an acoustic signal is sent to the shooter to indicate that his weapon is aiming at the center of the target CI. One will note that the scope LU is pre-oriented to the angle a formed by the axis passing through the scope LU and the target pattern MI, relative to the aiming axis (from the weapon AR to the center of the target CI).
Adjusting the position of the target pattern MI relative to the target must be done with precision, so that the same value of the angle a is defined and the shooter always has his weapon facing the center of the target. In addition, the position of the target pattern MI relative to the target CI must be adjusted each time to the position of the shooter (according to his distance to the target (200, 100, or 50 meters), whether he is standing, crouched, or lying down, etc.).
Such a system is therefore fairly difficult to use and is impractical for competitions.
In addition, a “tilt” problem occurs if the shooter does not maintain the same exact position when shooting. This type of system communicates to the shooter an aiming direction which is offset from what the system is truly trying to detect (the target pattern MI in this case), and due to the initial alignment of the weapon to a point which is not the center of the target CI, it has been observed than a tilt angle a disrupts the quality of the shot.
Targets for competitive shooting generally have officially defined characteristics and therefore do not vary in shape and/or color, whether they are intended for use by persons with or without disabilities. There is no question of changing the appearance of the targets to adapt them to existing aiming-assistance systems.